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. 2024 Feb 1;10(3):e24913.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24913. eCollection 2024 Feb 15.

Assessment of irrigation water quality for vegetable farming in peri-urban Kumasi

Winfred Bediakoh Ashie  1 , Jonathan Awewomom  2 , Emil Nana Yaw Osei Ettey  1 , Francis Opoku  1 , Osei Akoto  1
Affiliations

Assessment of irrigation water quality for vegetable farming in peri-urban Kumasi

Winfred Bediakoh Ashie et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Polluted water contains a variety of toxic compounds that tend to affect human health. Farmers have recently looked at runoff wastewater as a source of irrigation water because it comes at no cost and is a more efficient alternative to potable water due to the high demand but limited supply. This present study assesses the quality and suitability of water sources used for irrigation at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology vegetable farmlands. The study specifically investigated the quality of water used for irrigation with the following parameters: pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, chloride, chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand, oil and grease, fluoride, nitrate, nitrite, sulphate, sodium, calcium, magnesium, sodium adsorption potential, alkalinity, conductivity, phosphate, Escherichia coli, fecal and total coliforms. The results revealed that the water contained moderate levels of chloride and could be good for plant growth. The total coliform counts range from 2.1 × 106 to 4.15 × 107 MPN/100 mL, suggesting a relatively high microbial load in the irrigation water. The results also suggested that the sodium absorption ratio was very low and may not affect the quality of water for irrigation purposes. Fe levels far exceed the 5 mg/L maximum acceptable limits recommended by the WHO and FAO for the irrigation of vegetables. The high Fe concentration could discolor the leaves of some plants, especially foliage leaves. However, the levels of Cd were within the WHO maximum permissible limit of 0.01 mg/L.

Keywords: Discharge; Irrigation; Quality; Sodium absorption potential; Water.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of the study area showing all the sampling sites.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Physical and chemical properties characterizing water quality for irrigation.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Level of nutrients in irrigation water.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Concentration of heavy metals in water for irrigation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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